HAPPY BIRTHPLACE!
The Weimar ‘piano pioneers’:
Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach
We owe the benefit concerts ‘ENGEL FÜR BACH’ (ANGELS FOR BACH) during the festival to our artists, who are performing without remuneration. In doing so, they are making a strong and unmistakable statement: We play with heart and soul for the development of the Bach world in Weimar, the only authentic place where Bach lived!
Our heartfelt thanks go to all those involved!
PROGRAM
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Sonata in A major, Wq 55/4; 4th sonata from the 1st collection ‘for connoisseurs and lovers’ (Leipzig 1779)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 - 1788)
Rondo in C minor, Wq 59/5; from the 5th collection ‘for connoisseurs and lovers’ 1785
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710 – 1784)
Polonaises Falck 12 (partly presumed to be from around 1765)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1787)
Sonata in E minor, Wq. 59/1 (1784)
Presto – Adagio – Andantino
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710–1784)
Fantasia in E minor, F.21 (undated)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Sonata in D major for two pianos, K. 448 (1781)
NOTES ON THE PROGRAMME
Yes, this is exactly where the cradles of Bach's two most famous sons stood: Wilhelm Friedemann, born on 22 November 1710, and Carl Philipp Emanuel, born on 8 March 1714. Both were highly gifted – and yet completely different in character. C.P.E. Bach is certainly the most famous person ever born in Weimar!
The first-born son, Wilhelm Friedemann, affectionately called ‘Friede’ by his father, remained throughout his life a controversial character, described as having ‘strange behaviour’. Was this stubbornness – or a free spirit determined to break the shackles of absolutism? Many uncompromising, even brusque and incomprehensible life decisions ultimately led him, despite the highest recognition of his art, to perpetual financial hardship. Wilhelm Friedemann died in poverty at the age of 74. ‘Germany has lost its first organist and the musical world has lost a man whose loss is irreplaceable,’ noted his obituary.
His music, however, still commands attention today: masterful in his father's traditional style, skilled in the new ‘gallant’ style of the awakening bourgeoisie, and imbued with his passionate, individual, improvisational style of writing; whether in his emotionally powerful solo harpsichord fantasies, as a pioneer of the ‘keyboard concerto’ genre, in festive cantatas or – far ahead of his time – in his romantic, dreamy polonaises, this underrated composer consistently proved himself to be a true son of the ‘immortal Sebastian’.
This is in stark contrast to the life of his younger brother Carl Philipp Emanuel, who – although he called himself a Melancolicus – lived on the sunny side of life. At an early age, he established himself as a protagonist of the emerging bourgeois music culture and thus became (according to Martin Geck) ‘perhaps the first musician (...) to play a significant role in artistic, literary and theological circles.’
As a composer, he found his own style, which was clearly distinct from both his father's Baroque musical language and the modern Italian taste in which his half-brother Johann Christian excelled in London. His standards were high: he wanted to make keyboard music the paradigm of an instrumental language, which would reveal itself to listeners in every detail as a purely instrumental language of the soul without words. To achieve this, he demanded a great deal from his performers: complicated rhythms, contrasts, virtuosity, spontaneous, bizarre twists and turns, and eccentric gestures were among his trademarks. An enormously complex musical language – whose meaning, however, becomes clear when one realises that Carl Philipp is experimenting with not only expressing thoughts and feelings, but also translating them into sound ‘simultaneously’!
Carl Philipp Emanuel died after an equally successful and multifaceted career as a harpsichordist at the court of Frederick the Great, one of the most famous keyboard players in Europe, as a composer of over 1,000 separate works and successor to his godfather Georg Philipp Telemann as municipal music director, as well as a successful publisher and concert organiser, on 14 December 1788 in Hamburg.
The story of these two brilliant and very different Bach brothers is one of many that will be told in the future BachWorld Weimar. Until then, Bach in Weimar is lovingly and patiently endeavouring to remedy the lack of presentation of this magnificent musical facet of Weimar as best it can...!
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Anders Muskens (born 1993) is a Canadian fortepiano player, harpsichordist and ensemble director specialising in historical keyboard instruments and musicology. He performs throughout Europe and North America and is known for his interpretations of 18th and early 19th century music. He studied fortepiano at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Bart van Oort and Petra Somlai and is currently pursuing a doctorate in musicology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. His research focuses on rhetorical acting and early modern theatre practices in music performance. Muskens is the founder and director of Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester, which is dedicated to reviving the music of the Mannheim court orchestra. The ensemble has performed at major festivals such as the Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele and has recorded for Etcetera Records and Naxos. His solo and ensemble projects include ‘Army of Generals’ and ‘Beethoven's Forgotten Piano Concerto’ (2024). He has performed at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Utrecht Early Music Festival and the Salle Bourgie. His Beethoven interpretations have been described as ‘not only vital and exciting, but also new and revolutionary’ (Early Music America), while his Walldorf recital ‘ignited a veritable firework display of sounds’ (Stadt Walldorf Review). His discography includes ‘Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas’ (2023), "Vogler: Travel Souvenirs for Keyboard‘ (2025) and ’Louise Farrenc: Complete Works for Violin and Fortepiano" (2023). He won first prize at the Early Music Young Ensemble Competition (London, 2018) and the Sir James Lougheed Award of Distinction (2024). He is represented by the Sonus Artist Agency.
Wolfgang Brunner has been a regular guest performer at all major European festivals since his international competition successes for harpsichord and hammered dulcimer. From 1985 to 2024, he taught at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, among other institutions. He has published works in the field of historical dance research (including MGG articles) and on historical and pedagogical improvisation practice. He has also released around 70 CDs with his baroque ensemble ‘Salzburger Hofmusik’ and as a soloist, including many first recordings ranging from early baroque to Carl Orff, which have won numerous awards.